Subir Roy: So clubby and comfy

OFFBEAT

What I like about Century Club in Bangalore is that it is so green. Set in one corner of Cubbon Park, the vast wooded lung in the centre of the city, the ambient temperature in it is a clear couple of degrees less than from wherever you may have happened to come.

The main lawn, facing what can be called the club house, is bordered by shrubs and ringed by tall trees creating a feeling of a clearing amidst the deep woods beyond. It is not the poshest club in town, having been set up early in the last century by upcoming Indian professionals who did not belong to the elite.

My wife and I are there almost every Saturday evening. Staying at home just by ourselves, with the children gone to college, feels too depressing. But that is not my favourite time at the club. At around 3 o'clock the Financial Times of the previous day arrives at the office and that is when I try to do a quick getaway to the club.

The covered verandah looking on to the lawn beyond which stand the trees is virtually deserted with only a couple of tables still unable to get rid of those at them who have had too much beer. It costs under Rs 20 to finish two cups of freshly brewed coffee in around 45 minutes, which is also the time it takes to go through my pick of the day's letters to the editor and opinion pieces in the FT. Life can hardly be more peaceful, enjoyable and affordable.

But the times are changing. In another corner of the club, also ringed by trees, is a raised open space where you can get drinks, snacks and, most important, listen to some music on weekend evenings. This is the club's concession to the younger generation and those who are a little less solidly middle class and non-anglicised than the average club member. I realised the need for it when my children, on their first visit to the club during vacation, declared they didn't quite dig the place. For them there were too many old people, the atmosphere was not lively and the only redeeming feature was the quality of the kababs, much improved since the change of caterer.

On the other hand, Calcutta Club, where virtually all my old friends are members, is equally full of older people but cannot be accused of being unduly sedate. It must be low key a lot of the times but not on those occasions when those in the city and those like me who are there on annual vacation meet to relive the old times.

It is like a college reunion -- most of us are in fact from the same batch -- complete with old jokes, recalling any number of the absurd and hilarious episodes of our youth and of course wondering where was so and so who one hoped remained even half as pretty as she had been four decades ago.

The British may have built and set the tone for Calcutta Club in their time but today it is for the most part a convenient and sometimes convivial meeting place for upper middle class Bengalis. The decibel level is higher than in my Bangalore club simply because the zest for living it up is so much greater in Kolkata, never mind if it is the antithesis of a healthy lifestyle.

Clubs in India have outlived the British who set up most of them and have undergone a thorough transformation, becoming so very Indian. And they thrive not simply because they are affordable watering holes set up in acceptable surroundings, never mind the atrocious service. They are such comfortable places where you know the waiters who know what's your regular drink. And if it is set in the greenery of Cubbon Park then that is a great add-on.

subir.roy@bsmail.in